The Order of
the Coif is legal education's national honorary society.
The purpose of the Order of the
Coif is“to encourage excellence in legal education by fostering a
spirit of careful
study, recognizing
those who as law students attained a high grade of scholarship,
and honoring those who
as lawyers,
judges, and teachers attained high distinction for their scholarly
or professional accomplishments.”
Chapters are established at those law schools that demonstrate that
their programs serve these
objectives.

A history of
the Order may be found at at History of Order
of the Coif; in the annual Coif Handbook
and in Strong, Order of the Coif:
English Antecedents and American Adaptation, 63 A.B.A.J.
(1977).

A. CRITERIA (adopted by the
Executive
Committee January 9, 1982)

This
statement of the requirements for the establishment of a chapter
is issued in exercise of the
responsibility imposed by Sections 3.2 and 9.1 of the Coif Constitution
upon the Executive
Committee
to interpret the Constitution, pass upon the national policy of
the Order, and administer
its affairs. The
statement is based upon the general principles stated in the
Constitution. In determining
in particular
what those general principles require, the Executive Committee is
guided by the settled practices of
the Order.

To merit a
chapter of the Order of the Coif a law school must comply
with the following requirements:

1) ABA Approval and AALS
Membership. The law school must be in
full compliance with the
Standards for the Approval of Law Schools by the American Bar
Association and with
the requirements
of membership in the Association of American Law Schools.

2) An Established Program.
To assure that the law school and its program are firmly established,
a chapter may not be established at a school until the school has
offered instruction for ten consecutive
years and have had one sabbatical site evaluation after the three-year
site evaluation following the
granting of full approval.

3) University Affiliation.
A law school should be a functioning part of a university. It is in a
university
setting that a law school is most likely to encourage scholarship
in its students
and faculty. If a law
school if not a part of the university or is situated apart from
its parent, it must make the
arrangements
necessary to bring to its students and faculty the advantages
that would normally flow to it from
being a
part of a university. These advantages include library resources
relating to other disciplines and
the
involvement of faculty from other disciplines in its teaching and
scholarship.

4) Part-time Program.
A law school may offer a part-time as well as a full-time first degree
program
and graduate degree programs. If a law school offers a part-time
first degree
program, it must offer to the
part-time students an instructional program substantially as rich
as that offered
the full-time students and
must make arrangements concerning its co-curricular programs that
facilitate participation
therein by the
part-time students. The law school shall remove the obstacles to
scholarship by the full-time
faculty that
is sometimes presented by teaching in an evening program. This may
be done by giving appropriate
attention to, among other things,teaching loads and schedules.

5) Educational Environment. The law school
shall provide for its students a stimulating intellectual
environment for the study of law.

6) Commitment of the University and Law School
Administration to Quality Legal Education. The
University and law school administration must be committed to
quality legal education
and must make
the necessary institutional arrangements that will facilitate the
presentation of a program
of quality legal
education. The institutional arrangements among the faculty, dean,
central administration
and, in the
case of state-supported institutions, the central state
educational authority shall fully recognize
the
professional competence and judgment of the law faculty and dean
concerning the school’s educational
program and faculty appointments. The dean and faculty shall
periodically examine the school’s
educational,
effective discharge of the missions selected.

7) Faculty. The faculty
must be not only dedicated and effective teachers but also productive
scholars
of works of quality. Quality scholarship may include law reform,
such as that
done by reporters
for the American Law Institute, National Conference of
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws,
and state
law revision commissions. The law school shall maintain
conditions that facilitate the full-time
faculty
members effective discharge of their teaching and scholarly
responsibilities. These conditions include
adequate
secretarial and research assistance and adequate funds for
professional travel.

8) Educational Program.
The law school’s first degree program shall provide instruction
not only
in
the basic courses but also in some of the newer areas of the law.
Through courses
and seminars the
students must be given opportunities to develop their research and
writing skills. The school
shall present
a rich and varied program of cocurricular activities, such as law
journal, moot trial and
appellate court and
client counseling, that will assist the students in developing
their skills of scholarship and
lawyering. The
approach taken in teaching must include a jurisprudential and
humanistic view of the law and have
concern
not only for what the law is but for what it might be.

9) Student Body. The
student body should be composed of persons with a rich and varied
educational
experiential background and must bring to their law studies excellent
academic
credentials. The students
shall manifest a professional attitude towards their
responsibilities as students
and an intellectual interest in
the law and legal institutions.

10) Law Library. The
law library collection must be of the size and quality that will
adequately
support
and encourage the research activities of the students and faculty.
The library's
professional staff shall provide
a high level of professional assistance to the teaching and
scholarly program
of the school.

11) Physical Facilities.
The law school’s physical facilities shall be of a size and
quality that
promote
the attainment by the law school of its educational goals.

B. PROCEDURES

Summary of the Process. The process leading
to the establishment of a chapter at a law school begins
its review of the criteria for membership (see above). If
the dean or
other representatives of the interested
law school have questions or wish to discuss the matter, the
school should
contact the Secretary-
Treasurer. The process ends when the chapters affirmatively
accept by written ballot
the Executive
Committee’s recommendation that a chapter be established at
the law school.

1. An application for new chapter should be filed within
two years following sabbatical inspection of
the school by the ABA and after the school has received
the final letter from the ABA stating that the
school remains on the list of ABA approved law schools and it has
received notification from the AALS that
it has satisfied the membership requirements with no further reports or
requests for information required.
The first formal step iin the process is the dean's letter on behalf of
the law school stating its wish that a
chapter of the Order be established at the school. Accompanying
the letter or submitted shortly thereafter
is the documentationm that will permit the Executive Committee to
determine whether it appears that the
school merits a chapter. The Secretary-Treasurer reviews the
documentation to determine if there is
additional information that the Executive Committee is likely to need.
If so, he or she willl ask for these a
dditional data.

2. If the Executive Committee
determines upon the basis of the documentation that the applying school
merits a chapter in the Order, it may take one of two steps. The
President may appoint a member of the
Executive Copmmitee to write a confidential report on on the school on
the basis of the submitted record or
may appoint
a team to conduct a site evaluation and prepare a written report of its
findings. On the basis of
one of these reports and the descriptive and quantitative data
submitted by the
law school, the Executive
Committee determines whether the school meets the requirements for
the establishment
of a chapter.

3. If it concludes that the
school merits a chapter, the Secretary-Treasurer transmits to the
chapters for vote
by mail ballot the Executive Committee’s recommendation that
a chapter be established
and a description of the law school and its program of legal education
. Upon a favorable vote of 80 percent
or more of the chapters on a school’s application for
a charter, the Secretary-Treasurer declares the creation
of the new chapter and issues the school
a charter. (Source: Coif Constitution §4.1)

Informal Consultation. If the school wishes
to consult with the national Secretary-Treasurer concerning
the procedure and criteria for the establishment of a chapter,
the dean or
other representative of the law
school should initiate the contact. If there are aspects of a law
school and its
program that raise questions
about compliance with Coif requirements, discussions with the
Secretary-Treasurer
may prove helpful.
While the Secretary-Treasurer is obviously not in a
position to determine on behalf of the Order that a
potential applicant school meets the criteria, he or she should be
able to help the
law school identify the
areas, if any, that may need additional attention before a formal
application is made.

Application. The law school makes its formal
application for a chapter by a letter signed by the dean
that is addressed to the President by November 1st. The letter
should state that the dean believes
that
the law school qualifies for a chapter and that accordingly
the law school makes application for the
establishment
of a chapter. In this letter or an accompanying memorandum,
the dean should describe
briefly the particulars
that demonstrate that the law school complies with each of the
eleven requirements
for the establishment
of a chapter.

Two printed copies of the application shall be sent to
the Secretary-Treasurer, along with seven thumb
(flash) drive copies of the materials described below and a $500
application fee. The application is
composed of:

1. Letter or memorandum
from the dean of the applicant school summarizing the school’s
compliance with the eleven requirements for a Coif chapter.

4. The reports from the most recent ABA and AALS site
inspection
along with the correspondence
from the ABA and AALS with respect to their findings, conclusions or
concerns based on the most recent
site inspection. The ABA must have made a final decision, with no
outstanding requests for further
information, that the school is in full compliance with the Standards
for Approval of Law Schools. Likewise,
the AALS must have made a final decision, with no outstanding requests
for further information, that the
school meets the membership requirements of the AALS. It is
strongly recommended that applications for
chapters be filed within
two years following a sabbatical inspection of the school by the
ABA and AALS.

5. Supporting documents setting
forth the following information:

(A)
Faculty

(1) Biographical information about the education and professional
experience
of the full-time
tenure and tenure-track faculty,
(2) Biographical information for other full-time faculty members for whom scholarship is not
expected and an indication of why there is no scholarship
expectation (e.g., in some schools
legal
writing
faculty have no expectat of
publication), (3) A list of the adjunct
faculty with the subjects taught,
(4) Bibliography of faculty publications for the past five years,
and
(5) Faculty support (sabbatical policy, research assistance, research
grants, and other types
of
faculty support). For research grants and sabbaticals indicate the number granted
annually and the amount of summer and other research grants).

(B) Library

(1) A description of the library's collection highlighting
collection size; areas of strength and depth;
the
proportion of online resources and microforms versus print; any unique
aspects of the
collection,
(2) The financial support provided for the library, listing
separately
the amount allocated for
new acquisitions,
(3) A description of the
library's services and engagement in the intellectual life of the
school, and
(4)
The professional staff of the library.

(C)
Students

(1) The qualifications (LSAT & GPA) of students admitted for the
prior
5-year period, and
(2) The attrition rate for a 5-year period. This is to be shown by
comparing
the number of
students admitted to a given class with the number who actually
graduated.
(Example:
students admitted to first year in 2005 - 150; students graduating in
June, 2008 - 125.)

(D)
Financial Support

(1) The annual law school budget.
(2) Private schools shall in addition state the percentage of the
budget
funded by tuition.

(E)
Extra Curricular Activities

(1) List pf the journals edited or published by the applicant school,
and
(2) Description of any special or endowed lectureships or other types
of enrichment
programs.

The school's materials shall be accompanied by an application
fee of
$500; this fee is designed to cover the direct expenses of the Order in
processing the application.

Executive Committee’s Determination. On basis of the
documentation submitted, the Executive
Committee determines whether this data indicates that the school
appears to meet the criteria for
establishing a new chapter in the Order.” The
Secretary-Treasurer reviews the documentation to
determine if there is additional information that the
Executive Committee is likely to want. If so, he or
she will ask the dean for these additional data.

The
Executive Committee customarily
meets only once a year, during the annual meeting of the AALS.
A school’s application for membership must be filed by the first
day of
November to be considered at the next
January meeting.

Negative
Determinations by the Executive Committee. If the Executive
Committee determines that theapplicant school does not meet the criteria for
creation of a chapter, it informs the school of its judgment.The school may not reapply for three years following
the meeting at which the application was considered.

Positive Determinations by the Executive Committee.
If the Executive Committee determines uponthe basis of the documentation that the applying
school merits a chapter in the Order, it may take one oftwo steps. The President may appoint a member of
the Executive Committee to write a confidentialreport on the school on the basis of the submitted
record or may appoint a team to conduct a site
evaluationof the school and produce a written
report of its findings. On the basis of one of these reports
and thedescriptive and quantitative data
submitted by the law school, the Executive Committee
determineswhether the school meets the
requirements for the establishment of a chapter.

Confidential report from
Executive Committee. The designated member of the Executive
Committeedrafts a report on the school summarizing the
documentation submitted by the school. The report shallcontain sufficient detail to enable the Committee to
make its initial determination. The report will be sentto the chapters of the Order of the Coif as
documentation to support a recommendation from theExecutive
Committee that a new chapter be established at the school.

Evaluation Inspection. If the
Executive Committee
determines that the school appears to meet the
criteria for establishing a chapter but has some doubt or needs
additional data, the President
may appoint
a visitation team for a site evaluation. The on-site inspection of
the school may be made in either
the fall
or spring term, but the fall term is preferable. As soon as
the inspection team is appointed, the dean and
the
chairperson of the team should confer about the times most
appropriate for the inspection. It is essential
that the inspection team have an opportunity to visit classes and
confer with faculty and students.
Therefore,
the inspection must take place while classes are in session. It is
important that the inspection
team
have an opportunity to confer with the chief executive officer of
the university; therefore, the inspection
should
be scheduled at a time that the president or chancellor is
available for an exit interview.

The inspection team is composed
of three or four persons. A dean, a full time teacher and a
librarian
commonly compose the team. Occasionally, a judge, practitioner or
non-legal
educator participates in the
visit. The inspection teams are composed of persons who have been
elected to the
Order. The applying
school’s program and organizational structure are taken into
account in selecting
the visitors; visitors
whose experience especially qualify them to inspect the school in
question are sought. However,
persons
who have an association with the law school, university, dean or
faculty member that might appear
to
impair their capacity to make a full, fair and candid evaluation of the
school are avoided. Former members
of
the faculty and graduates of the school are, therefore, not
appointed to a school’s inspection team.

The Inspection. The dean and chairperson of
the inspection make the arrangements for the visit and
develop the schedule for the visit. The team shall be provided with the
same documentation as that
submitted to the Executive Committee.

The members of the inspection team submit their statement
of expenses incurred in making the
inspection to the dean. The dean should arrange to have these
expenses reimbursed
promptly.
Additionally, the school shall pay to the Order an inspection fee
of $150; this fee is designed to cover
the
direct expenses of the Order in managing the inspection visit.

Inspection Report. The inspection team should
promptly prepare a comprehensive report setting out its
findings with the respect to the different aspects of the
school’s administration
and program. The
chairperson of the team should send a draft of the report to the
dean, with the request
that it be reviewed
to determine whether it contains any inadvertent errors of fact.
The dean should promptly
inform the
chairperson of the team of any errors. The inspection report
should be finalized and sent to the
Secretary-Treasurer for distribution to the Executive Committee,
members of the team, and the president
and dean of the applicant school. Distribution of the report is
restricted. The president or dean may make
the report available
to members of the full time faculty and those members of the
university and law school
administration who official
reason to have access to the inspection report. Persons obtaining
access to the
report should be informed
of the restrictions on its distribution.

Consideration by the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee’s responsibility is to determine
upon the basis of the inspection report and the other information that
has been
submitted to it by the
school whether to recommend to the chapters of the Order that a
chapter be established
at the applicant
school. The dean is invited to submit to the Executive Committee
a statement of
material developments
that have occurred since the report was written and any germane
comments.

The Executive Committee may make its determination at
its annual meeting in January or by remote
communication.

Executive Committee
Recommendation to the Chapters. If the Executive
Committee determines that
the applicant school meets the criteria for the creation of a
chapter, it informs
the chapters of its judgment
and recommends that the chapters grant the application.

Chartering Fee.
Prior to mailing the ballots and materials to the chapters,
the applicant school pays a
chartering fee of $250 to cover the direct costs of submitting the
Executive Committee recommendation to
the chapter and of related actions.

Vote by Chapters. The Secretary-Treasurer
submits to the chapters by mail the Executive
Committee’s determination
that the applicant merits a chapter and recommendation that a chapter
therefore be created. Documentation such as the written
report from the Executive Committee or the
inspection report is provided to the chapters along with other
information the schools wishes to provide.

To avoid submission
of recommendations
for the creation of chapters arriving at the chapter school at
times that a number of the faculty are likely to be away, the Coif
Constitution
specifies that these
recommendations may not be mailed to the chapters between April 1 and
September 15. The chapters
are asked to vote within 40 days of the mailing of the memorandum
containing
the recommendation for the
creating of a chapter. Those chapters that have not voted within 45
days
after the mailing of the
memorandum are recorded as voting affirmatively. A favorable vote of 80
percent or more of the chapters
is required for the establishment of a charter.